The 'V' Spot: First Impressions

One shouldn't have to drive two-and-a-half hours to see the Brown men's hockey team play. Watching the Bears renew the oldest rivalry in college hockey was not worth the ridiculous traffic we had to endure, sitting on I-95 amidst the droves of people who for some odd reason wanted to go to Providence for their Friday evening.

Brown is an awful hockey team with no speed or stars. Thank God, a little squad from Harvard was there to make the night worthwhile.

The Crimson unveiled its freshman-laden offense on Friday night and while Brown isn't much of a marker of anything, Harvard passed its first test with a 3-0 victory.

The first impression the Crimson made is that it's fast. Its top three lines can all move considerably faster than the clunkers on I-95. From assistant captain Chris Bala on down, these boys can fly across the ice.

Bala has raised his game another level this year. One of the prime beneficiaries of Assistant Coach Ron Rolston's offseason workout regiment, he has added strength to his world class jets. He showed that off with about two minutes left in the second period as he flew down the left wing with a Bears defender draped all over him, and forced Brown goalie Brian Eklund to make a tough blocker save.

The Crimson lines were not often able to translate its speed into prime scoring chances, but that was because the players are still not used to each other. Yet.

"We have made a major improvement in team speed this year," Harvard Coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "With that, we are allowing the players to be far more creative than they were last year."

Friday night was a game not only of first impressions for the whole team but of first impressions for particular players. Like the entire freshman class. Mazzoleni brought in nine recruits and five played extensively.

How about winger Tyler Kolarik fighting for a backhand shot in the first that resulted in the rebound which sophomore Dominic Moore buried for the game-winning goal? Defensemen Blair Barlow and Dave McCulloch were terrors on the ice, taking the body at every opportunity. It has been quite a while since Harvard has had a heavy hitter. Now it appears the Crimson has a pair.

McCulloch perhaps was a little too overzealous and left the game with an unspecified injury. But he certainly made his impression felt on the hapless Brown squad.

"It's a physical game," Kolarik said. "Mazzoleni is very strict about finishing our checks whenever we have the opportunity."

Senior goaltender Oli Jonas decided to impress as well in his first performance as the team's undisputed No. 1 goaltender. Harvard shutout Brown last year in the season opener and Jonas decided there shouldn't be any drop-off in production, taking over for J.R. Prestifilippo '00.

Jonas played with confidence, coming out to cut down angles and being very sharp in close. He made 28 saves on the night, and though most weren't difficult, he certainly had his share of tough ones.

His most challenging save came about six minutes into the third period. For the first time in the game, Brown had a few unanswered shots on net and the semblance of offensive momentum was flowing its way. A booming shot left Jonas down to the left of the goal and the puck floating in the slot--on the stick of Bear sophomore Chris Legg.

Legg immediately wound up and drilled a shot towards Jonas' right, but the senior netminder managed to recover in time for a kick save.

Harvard captain Steve Moore rewarded his keeper with a little rest after that by peppering Eklund with shots.

It was Jonas' first career shutout.

"Jonas was really sharp, I thought he did a great job controlling the puck on his saves," Mazzoleni said. "The guys were really excited for him. It's great when nice things happen to nice people."

Of course, all of these were just first impressions. The first home games are this weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth, and those two teams will present the first real challenges to the Crimson.

After all, against Brown, the hardest part was showing up.